Courtship - Part 2 (AjinWeek2020/7)
Part 2 is here after...a year?
Originally, this was supposed to be posted for Ajin Week 2020 Day 7: Anything goes. The whole story was just supposed to be two chapters, however I want to expand it a little and now we're at looking at 3-4. Stay tuned for further updates! (I'm considering whether Twilight is the right choice for their movie night. It's very temping. There are five (5) movies and so very little of Kei's patience.)
“I’m sorry, what?” Tosaki says.
Yeah, Kei probably shouldn’t have agreed to this. On the other hand, the look of pure bewilderment on his team leader’s face replaces about a month of entertainment for him. At the very least. It’s a fair deal.
“We’re dating.” Kou explains sheepishly, for the second time, scratching at his neck.
“Since when?” Hirasawa asks, appearing just as invested as he is amused.
Izumi hasn’t said anything yet, instead observing them in silence.
“Since like right now.” Kou says, laughing awkwardly, “It was pretty spontaneous. Right, Kei?”
“Don’t drag me into this.” Kei responds briskly.
“Hey, you just said yes!” Kou argues, his brows furrowing.
“And I’m regretting it more and more.” Kei snipes back.
“Oof, boys, 20 minutes in and trouble in paradise already. It’s not looking good, huh?” Ogura comments.
“It’s just a…trial.” Kei says, anxiety still spiking up in him months later at the thought of the any kind of experiment, “For a week. More for research purposes than anything.”
“Research purposes, now we’re talking.” Ogura chimes in, “What’s your hypothesis? Are you going to need help evaluating the data?”
“Can you even evaluate a relationship that way?” Hirasawa argues, “In numbers? That sounds strange to me.”
“Well, plenty of psychological studies say yes, so.” Ogura shrugs, “So Nagai, what’s your deal?”
“The hypothesis is that seven days of close interaction will not lead to me murdering him.” Kei glares in Kou’s direction, “And that he will shut up about my dating life.”
Kou coughts out something that suspiciously sounds like “what life”, for which Kei elbows him in the ribs, hard.
“Yeah, what he said.” Kou wheezes, returning the glare in kind.
“And we’re not really going to write a report about it. We’re just letting it run simultaneously. Would that be with you?” Kei asks.
Tosaki stares at them for a full minute and then leaves the room without another word.
“I’ll just be-“ Izumi says, apologetically, hurriedly following after him.
“You boys have my blessing.” Hirasawa says, winking at them and toasting in their direction with his barley tea.
“Mine too, with a little extra sprinkle of blessing on top if you do take a few notes about it.” Ogura says, “From a sociological perspective, it’s pretty hilarious. Completely anonymous, of course.”
“Fine, I can do that.” Kei says, “I’m bored as it is.”
“Well, you’re not going to be bored for long with me around.” Kou says, once they’re out of earshot, grinning at him brightly.
Kei grimaces. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”
Kei hadn’t believed that dating Kou would be difficult- to be truthful, he hadn’t considered the situation at all, but here they were. But reality is a whole different obstacle.
First, there’s the hand-holding. It’s been a good while since Kei had held hands with anyone, frankly, when he was in elementary school and crossing the street with Eriko, and that had been more of a safety precaution than anything. It’s an unnecessary amount of touch in his opinion, the sweaty entanglement of fingers grossing him out in theory. In practice…it’s not really that bad.
Kou slips his hand into Kei’s, that evening as they’re taking a walk around the forest. It comes as a surprise to him. They had just been strolling around aimlessly for a while, trying to clear their head from a day of training and the awkward conversation earlier. Lost in his own thoughts, Kei startles a little at the sudden physical contact.
“The cicadas are really fucking loud, aren’t they?” Kou says, almost nonchalantly. Kei notices that his grip, although confident at first, loosens a little in hesitation, giving Kei the opportunity to pull away. He considers it. However, instead of sticky and oppressive, the touch is comforting somehow. Which is weird, considering there is no purpose to it. But then, there is no purpose to this entire trial run, Kei concludes, which makes up his mind. He hums noncommittally and squeezes back. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see how the other’s face lights up in surprise. “Maybe they just have a lot to talk about.” Kou stumbles to add. “Maybe they’re just as chatty as you.” Kei replies sarcastically. Kou laughs. “Yeah, probably.” he agrees, grinning. They continue walking until dusk approaches, coloring the sky in shades of purple and blue.
Izumi’s waiting for them when they get back with two glasses of chilled water. They say their thanks, Kou gulping down his water in a flash and wiping his mouth with his arm.
“Ah man, thought I was going to die of thirst.” he says, sighing blissfully as he goes in for a refill.
“Literally impossible in that short of a time span.” Kei corrects him, but he too can’t help a small sigh of relief. August brings about a heat wave that makes him even more grateful for the air conditioning at the hideout. He regrets to think that he “voluntarily” signed up for a training camp during this very time of the year when he could have instead spent his days in his room doing practice questions. Pure insanity. He’ll definitely get Sato back for this.
“By the way, Tosaki-san is okay with you… dating.” Izumi explains, “He was just a bit overwhelmed at the situation.”
Not only him, Kei thinks grimly.
“Well, it’s just for a week!” Kou interjects, with an embarrassed laugh, “We’re not sure about anything yet, you know?” Kei side-eyes him hard. His attempts at preserving his chances with Izumi-san are obvious enough that it’s almost pitiable. “Well, I am. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to spend the rest of my life dating someone like you.” he scoffs, which should serve Nakano’s agenda well, ignoring the slight constriction ins his chest. The walk must have tired out his muscle more than he realized.
“Well.” Izumi bites her lip, “He said that by your mere existence, you’ve ruled out his two biggest concerns, so after that he doesn’t really care what happens. Unless it jeopardizes your training, of course.”
Yes, that does sound indeed like Tosaki.“And those concerns are?” Kei asks, genuinely curious.
“You can’t get pregnant and you can’t die.” she says, matter-of-fact. Kou chokes on his water.
“In that particular order, in case you were wondering.” she adds, rolling her eyes.
“Wow.”says Kei, any other words temporarily not coming to mind.
That’s one obstacle removed.
For some strange reason, having a boyfriend doesn’t magically remove Kei’s above average exhaustion after what the others refer to as one instance of basic interval training.
“I can carry you the rest of the way.” Kou grins, kneeling beside Kei who is currently wheezing into the ground, fingers digging into the earth. Thirty situps, followed by half an hour of jogging? Give him a break. He’s been through 15 and already wishes he were six feet under.
“Are you dumb?” Kei coughs out, “How on earth would I benefit from that exercise?”
“Well, you could rest- you seriously sound like you’re gonna pass out any second.” Kou pointed out, “And I could get some strength training in. Win-win. I know I’m strong enough to carry you.” He has the audacity to wink at Kei.
“Hirasawa-san!” Kou yells and runs over to where the older man is standing and timing them. With Kou gesturing broadly while explaining, and Hirasawa nodding eventually, Kei knows his fate is sealed.
“Pick me up.” He says, lethargically stretching his limbs skywards once Kou comes back for him.
“Just get on my back like a normal person.” Kou laughs at his purposeful display of weakness, “Unless you really want the bridal carry?”
Remarkably enough, riding on Kou’s shoulders is not as bad as an experience as Kei had imagined it to be. He gets a ride across their training grounds, coupled with brilliant view of the clear blue sky and puffy clouds that drift by without a care in the world, and his only physical exertion is reserved for clinging to his teammate just enough so that he doesn’t fall off.
Which is to say minimal. For all his bragging, Nakano really does have profound upper body strength.
“See? Told you I could easily carry you!” Kou teases.
Kei doesn’t know what does it, the confidence emblazoning his tone, the mere fact that Nakano was right or the reality of the situation where he picked him up and carried him around like it was nothing.
Kei’s heart starts to beat a little faster.
“I’m not sharing a bed with you.” Kei declares, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“What’s the big deal? Couples do it all the time.” Kou says.
It’s close to midnight and he’s standing at Kei’s door, armed with his phone and a pillow.
“Yes, but we’re not a couple.
“We are for this week.” Kou points out and damn, he is right. He pouts at Kei.
“So we only have a week. Please, Nagai?”
“You know how I feel about physical contact.” Kei glances back at his bed, which looks perfectly designed to host one person, and one person only. As it should.
“Well, I mean we don’t have to cuddle. Unless that’s…something you want?” Kou throws him an inquisitive gaze, the tips of his ears reddening.
“Of course it’s not, you moron!” Kei snaps back, a blush rising to his cheeks.
“Well then what the hell is your issue?” Kou says, slightly frustrated.
“I don’t want to share a bed with you, that’s it. Good night.”
Kei slams the door close in his face.
He hears his teammate/boyfriend-for-the-week groan and the head of to God knows where.
Kei fortifies his resolve – he doesn’t even need to give a reason, and yet he gave perfectly acceptable to deny his overnight stay.
Perhaps that’s his only issue.
Perhaps he also doesn’t want Kou to be able to listen to his steadily accelerating heartbeat whether they’re in close proximity.
But that’s something Kou is better of not knowing about.
Little by little, the hand-holding is integrated in their daily routine. Not when anyone can see them. And only if there’s nothing immediate that needs to be done. A brush of fingers as they pass each other in the hallway. Kou’s hand naturally slipping into Kei’s as they’re watching a video on his phone. Kou’s fingers grasping for Kei’s in the middle of a team meeting, right under the table, and Kei holding on for just a second too long, a scene that he will replay in embarrassment in his memories later.
Sometimes Kei wishes it wouldn’t feel as comfortable as it does, because this too is something that he will have to erase once their week comes to an end.
“Oh yeah, can we use the room later?” Kou asks, three days into their trial, barely swallowing down his food in time to ask the question. Which is directed at Tosaki, an unspoken agreement that comes with trying to sort out most hideout-related issues. Because the man really is the only person that would find a problem with that, Kei thinks grimly, and isn’t disappointed.
“For what?” Tosaki asks, suspicion setting into his features. Or perhaps that’s just his default look these days.
“Like, for a movie night?” Kou says, “The screen in here is really big.”
There is dead silence. Kei picks at his soba and tries to stave off his oncoming headache.
“Dunno, cause we want to have one?” Kou tilts his head curiously, “If you guys aren’t gonna use it, we can have it, right?”
Ogura tries to turn his laugh into a cough, failing miserably.
“Yeah, Yuu, don’t be such a spoilsport. Let them have it.”
“What are you calling me?”
“I already said I’m cool with Ikuya, you’d just have to stop being so uptight about it.” Ogura shrugs, gesturing at him with his chopsticks.
“This room is reserved in the evenings.” Tosaki grits out between his teeth, ignoring Ogura’s third consecutive attempt that day to get under his skin, if Kei is keeping count correctly.
“Damn it. “ Kou sighs, “You can’t make an exception?”
Tosaki’s eyebrow twitches.
“Wouldn’t a couch be more comfortable than chairs?” Hirasawa interjects, right before Kou can continue in what Kei knows is a losing battle, “There’s one in the storage room. It’s a little battered, but it will do the job.”
“Yeah, I actually think there’s a projector in their too.” Manabe says, “You won’t need a screen. We’ll just get the laptop hooked up. Kind of like a home cinema.” He smiles nostalgically at the prospect: “Haven’t been to one in ages.”
“Hell yeah.” Nakano says, pumping his fist. He grins at Kei: “What do you say, Nagai?”
“Whatever.” Kei says, despite feeling strangely excited at the idea, taking another bite to avoid further conversation.
Izumi appears thoughtful. “I might be subscribed to a streaming service, if I remember correctly.” she says, “So make use of that if you will.”
“It will be better than risking a computer virus.” she adds, awkwardly, as Tosaki shoots a glare in her direction.
“Izumi-san, Hirasawa-san, Manabe-san, you’re the best!” Kou proclaims loudly, his body positively vibrating with excitement, “This will be the most amazing movie night ever!”
Hirasawa chuckles. “You’re welcome. We’ll help you set it up right after dinner.”
“And I’ll check the wifi and my login details.” Izumi says, pointedly avoiding eye contact with her boss.
“I’m glad everyone has their priorities for the evening sorted.” Tosaki says icily.
Kou gives Kei a winning grin, which seems to say: “I promised you a movie night, and I made it happen.”
For all intents and purposes, Kei is the slightest bit impressed. Which is yet another tidbit of information Nakano doesn’t need to possess.
“You better not make me sit through one of your dumb action movies.” he mutters, instead.
This is going to be a long night.
